Fabricating nanoscale and atomic scale devices
This invention concerns the fabrication of nanoscale and atomic scale devices. The method involves creating one or more registration markers. Using a SEM or optical microscope to form an image of the registration markers and the tip of a scanning tunnelling microscope (STM). Using the image to position and reposition the STM tip to pattern the device structure. Forming the active region of the device and then encapsulating it such that one or more of the registration markers are still visible to allow correct positioning of surface electrodes. The method can be used to form any number of device structures including quantum wires, single electron transistors, arrays or gate regions. The method can also be used to produce 3D devices by patterning subsequent layers with the STM and encapsulating in between.
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This invention concerns the fabrication of nanoscale and atomic scale devices, that is electronic devices fabricated to nanometer or atomic accuracy. Such devices could be intermediate devices in the fabrication of a quantum computer, but could have many other uses. In a further aspect the invention concerns the devices themselves.
BACKGROUND ARTIt is known that the Scanning Tunnelling Microscope (STM) can not only image at the atomic scale, but can also be used to manipulate matter at the atomic scale. Research groups are therefore interested in using a STM to fabricate atomic scale semiconductor devices, and very recently it has been shown that it is possible to use a STM to pattern P donors in silicon with atomic precision5.
It is desirable to connect macroscopic leads to a buried nano or atomic-scale patterned conducting region made with a STM once it is removed from the vacuum environment. A difficulty arises when the patterned conducting region is not visible, for instance it may be encapsulated under several tens to hundreds of nanometers of silicon and therefore be invisible to optical and electron beam microscopes. In this case, the challenge is to find a way to register the, perhaps atomically accurate, patterned conducting region to the silicon surface.
Many groups across the world have tried to develop a functional registration process for making accurate electrical contact and control gate electrodes to individual buried STM fabricated structures. To date none have succeeded.
A number of papers relevant to the working of this invention are cited below and these are also incorporated herein by reference:
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The invention is a method for fabricating a nanoscale or atomic scale device, comprising the steps of:
Creating one or more registration markers visible to a Scanning Tunnelling Microscope (STM), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) or an optical microscope, on or in a (clean) silicon surface.
Using a SEM or optical microscope to form an image of at least one of the registration markers and the tip of a Scanning tunnelling Microscope (STM) in the vicinity of the registration marker.
Using the image to position and reposition the STM tip relative to the marker with nanometer or micron resolution in order to pattern the active (conducting or insulating region) of the device structure on the silicon surface.
Forming the device (by incorporating dopant or insulating atoms or molecules into pattern) and then encapsulating it with silicon such that one or more of the registration markers are still visible on the silicon surface to a SEM or optical microscope.
Depositing a metal layer onto the silicon surface using either optical or electron beam lithography to form one or more ohmic or gate electrodes, or both, at one or more locations positioned relative to respective registration markers.
The registration markers survive all the process steps involved in the fabrication of the device. These steps might include flashing the surface to temperatures >1000° C., terminating the surface with a monolayer of hydrogen, selectively desorbing hydrogen atoms with either the STM tip with or without a scanning electron microscope (SEM) to pattern the device structure, dosing the exposed silicon surface with a dopant containing source, such as phosphine gas and encapsulating the resulting device. The invention is able to produce a robust semiconductor device, where the active component of the device is patterned by the STM. Given that we have also recently demonstrated that it is possible to dope silicon with atomic precision with a STM, the door is now open to the creation of fully functional nano and atomic scale silicon devices with both ohmic and control gate electrodes. This promises to open entirely new areas of quantum device physics, due to the ability to accurately control the position of dopants with atomic precision, and integrate quantum physics into device design (with applications for atomic-scale transistors, stub tuners, resonant tunnel diodes, etc).
The silicon surface may be the (100)-oriented surface having a 2×1 unit cell surface structure with rows of σ-bonded silicon dimers. In this case the dopant atoms replace silicon atoms in the surface to form dopant-silicon hetero-dimers.
The silicon surface may be up to 1 cm2 in size allowing the STM patterned device to be compatible with either optical or electron beam lithography once it is removed from the vacuum system. In this case the STM system has to be compatible with achieving atomic resolution imaging and manipulation on a silicon sample that is up to 1 cm2 in size.
The registration markers may be defined by optical or e-beam lithography (EBL).
The registration markers may be created using focussed ion beam (FIB) milling or etching of the silicon surface. Alternatively, they may be created using wet-chemical etching or reactive ion etching (RIE). The registration markers may alternatively be created by depositing metal onto the silicon surface, for instance to produce a thin metal pad.
The markers may be sized between a few nm and several microns. A series of registration marker of different sizes and patterns may be used to form a target around a selected site for the nanoscale device. The smallest marker may range from tens to several hundred nanometers in diameter. The registration markers may be from tens to several hundred nanometers deep.
After patterning the markers into the substrate the surface may be thoroughly cleaned to remove any traces or organic resists before loading into the STM vacuum system. The samples sizes, which are up to 1 cm2, are then heated up to reconstruct the silicon surface with atomic-resolution.
A laser interferometer stage may be used to assist with repositioning of the STM over millimeter distances with nanometer resolution to expose the device structure in the hydrogen monolayer or to refind the device at any stage of the ultra-high vacuum fabrication process.
The structure may be exposed by selectively desorbing from a hydrogen monolayer on the silicon surface single or multiple H atoms spaced apart from each other by spacings from several hundred nanometers down to the order of the Fermi electron wavelength or below. The desorbed atoms may form wires, arrays, tunnel junctions and the process has the flexibility to form any number of device patterns, both in two and three dimensions. The exposed silicon may subsequently be doped by exposure to atoms or molecules containing dopant atoms; for instance phosphine gas may be used to dope with phosphorus donor atoms.
The dopant atoms may be activated by annealing the surface at between about 300° C. and about 650° C. to incorporate electrically active dopant atoms into the silicon.
The hydrogen monolayer may be removed by annealing at ˜470±30° C. for less than 10 seconds, and preferably for 5 seconds. These two annealing steps may be combined, in which case annealing takes place at about 530° C. for about 5 seconds.
Alternatively, the hydrogen monolayer may be removed by using the STM tip, for instance with tunnelling conditions in the range of 4-7 V and 1-4 nA or by using the SEM with conditions for SEM hydrogen removal, that is electron beam current ranging from 1-4 nA and beam exposure times varying from several minutes to an hour.
Alternatively again the hydrogen monolayer may remain on the surface.
The encapsulating layers may be epitaxially grown at between about 0° C. and 400° C., between about 0° C. and 250° C. or preferably at room temperature to prevent diffusion of the donor atoms. The encapsulating layers may be between 5 and several hundred nm thick.
The method may include the further step of: thermally annealing the surface so that it becomes atomically smooth.
The method may include the step of depositing metal layers on the silicon surface at locations positioned above respective highly-doped regions and then performing an anneal step to diffuse the metal down to the buried P-doped regions, forming ohmic electrical contacts. This anneal must be at a sufficiently low temperature (typically less than ˜500° C.) so that significant P diffusion does not occur out of the precision buried active region itself and therefore must involve a metal which has a much higher diffusion rate in silicon than the buried phosphorus. A possible specific process would use aluminium via metal deposition, followed by an anneal at 350° C. for 15 minutes to diffuse the aluminium down to the buried active region.
An alternative process for realisation of ohmic contacts would be to use ion implantation of n-type dopants in silicon (such as phosphorus) to create a shallow n-doped region, extending from the surface down to the active region. Localization of the implants could be achieved either through the use of a focused ion beam (FIB), or by a blanket ion implanter and a patterned ion-stopping resist mask, using a resist material such as polymethyl-methacrylate (PMMA). This process would require a relatively high temperature anneal step (possibly up to 950° C.) to remove ion damage which would need to be sufficiently short in time to avoid diffusion of the P atoms in the buried active region. Such rapid thermal anneal steps are common in commercial semiconductor device fabrication.
A critical aspect for realisation of ohmic contacts is to ensure alignment of the surface metallisation to the buried P-doped regions below. Surface metal and control-gate contacts only need to be registered to the buried active region to an accuracy of between 100-1000 nm, sufficient to ensure an overlap of the connecting regions. This level of registration can be achieved using the registration marks which are defined in the silicon substrate prior to STM lithography, and which can subsequently be imaged either optically or using scanning electron microscopy to allow for alignment of surface features to the markers.
The method may further comprise the steps of forming highly-doped gate regions close to and in the plane of the patterned dopant layers.
The method may also comprise the steps of forming three dimensional devices by patterning a first layer of the device, then overgrowing with one or more layers of silicon atoms and patterning the new surface with another layer of the device. This process can be repeated as long as a registration marker survives. Alternatively, new registration marker may be created close to or over the top of existing markers in order to ensure a marker is visible for depositing the metal layer.
The method may include the further step of measuring the electrical activity of the device.
Dopant atoms incorporated into the silicon surface may form buried qubit sites. In this case the method may further comprise the steps of forming first highly-doped gate regions adjacent respective qubit sites, each operable as a control gate for the qubit; and forming second highly-doped electrode regions adjacent respective qubit sites, each operable as a coupling electrode to read-out the qubit. Further, the metal layer may be deposited on the silicon surface at locations positioned above respective highly-doped regions to form electrical circuitry components, and there may be ohmic contact between each electrical circuitry component and the respective highly-doped region.
In a further aspect the invention is a nanoscale or atomic scale device fabricated by the method.
Aspects and examples of the invention will now be described with reference to the following accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1A(a) to (e) and FIG. 1B(f) to (k) are diagrams showing a series of eleven steps for the STM patterning of atomic and nanoscale structures on the silicon surface leading to the formation of a few qubit quantum computer.
For the sake of brevity, in the following we will use the term nanoscale to refer to both nanoscale and atomic scale devices.
BEST MODES OF THE INVENTIONThe Fabrication Approach
Referring first to
A clean Si(100)2×1 surface is formed in an ultra-high-vacuum (UHV) by heating to near the melting point. This surface has a 2×1 unit cell and consists of rows of σ-bonded Si dimers with the remaining dangling bond on each Si atom forming a weak π-bond with the other Si atom of the dimer of which it comprises.
Exposure of this surface to atomic H can break the weak Si π-bonds, allowing H atoms to bond to the Si dangling bonds. Under controlled conditions a monolayer of H can be formed with one H atom bonded to each Si atom, satisfying the reactive dangling bonds, effectively passivating the surface; see FIG. 1A(a).
A STM tip or SEM is then used to selectively desorb H atoms from the passivated surface by the application of appropriate voltages and tunnelling currents, forming a pattern in the H resist; see FIG. 1A(b). In this way regions of bare, reactive Si atoms are exposed, allowing the subsequent adsorption of reactive species directly to the Si surface.
Phosphine (PH3) gas is introduced into the vacuum system via a controlled leak valve connected to a specially designed phosphine micro-dosing system. The phosphine molecules bond strongly to the exposed Si(100)2×1 surface, through the holes in the hydrogen resist; see FIG. 1A(c).
Subsequent heating of the STM patterned surface for crystal growth causes the dissociation of the phosphine molecules and results in the incorporation of P into the first layer of Si; see FIG. 1A(d). It is therefore the exposure of an STM patterned H passivated surface to PH3 that is used to produce the required P array. Note any alternate adsorption species can be used at this stage of the processing to produce conducting regions at the exposed silicon surface. These may be n or p-type dopants or any other molecule.
The hydrogen may then be desorbed, as shown in FIG. 1A(e), before overgrowing with silicon at room temperature, as shown in FIG. 1B(f). An alternative is to grow the silicon directly through the hydrogen layer, as shown in FIG. 1B(g).
The next step is to rapidly anneal the surface, shown in FIG. 1B(h).
Silicon is then grown on the surface at elevated temperature, shown in FIG. 1B(i). A barrier is then grown as shown in FIG. 1B(j). Finally conductive gates or ohmic contacts, or both, are aligned on the surface, as shown in FIG. 1B(k).
Thermal Hydrogen Desorption—FIG. 1A(e)
Assuming the steps described with reference to FIG. 1A(a) to (d) have been carried out,
In the first experiment a silicon (100) surface is terminated with atomic hydrogen to form a monohydride-terminated surface. This surface was then subjected to several different thermal anneals to determine the appropriate temperature required to remove the hydrogen resist layer effectively. Each surface shown in
The optimal anneal temperature seems to be ˜530° C. when using a single anneal to desorb the hydrogen. In order to minimise the amount of thermal energy needed to remove the hydrogen we repeated this experiment in
In order to determine the stability of lithographically placed dopant arrays to these heating conditions a monohydride surface was lithographically patterned with an STM tip.
The lithographically defined regions onto which the phosphine is deposited can be seen in
The identification of ejected silicon localised in regions defined by STM lithography, demonstrates that the phosphorus which has been incorporated at controlled locations remains in the same location after hydrogen is removed using thermal processing of 530° C. for 5 seconds.
The results of a detailed high resolution STM study of the thermal desorption of hydrogen from the Si(001)2×1 surface using successive anneals are shown in
All experiments were performed in an ultra-high vacuum system. Hydrogen was desorbed by passing a current directly through the sample and cooling to room temperature at a rate of ˜2° C.s−1. The substrate temperature was determined with an infrared pyrometer giving an accuracy of ±30° C.
Having studied the desorption of a H resist layer from a Si(001) surface in detail using successive anneals we find that there is a temperature range of 470±30° C. within which the H resist can be removed effectively from the surface with minimal defect generation. The optimal anneal temperature is slightly lower compared to the previous study shown in
The region of incorporated phosphorus atoms can be seen in
An anneal to 470° C. for 10 s is now applied to remove the hydrogen resist from the doped nanostructure.
STM Tip Induced Hydrogen Desorption
Using the STM tip for hydrogen removal for the lithography process can also be applied to completely removing the resist after phosphine dosing and incorporation.
To demonstrate the effectiveness of this technique for removing the hydrogen whilst maintaining the integrity of the lithographically incorporated phosphorus atoms we highlight the experiment performed in
Encapsulation of Incorporated P by High Purity Silicon
Growing Silicon Over Doped Surfaces—FIGS. 1B(f) and (g)
There are two approaches to the growth of silicon with no P present. Encapsulation at room temperature and elevated temperatures. And, encapsulation at room temperature and subsequent annealing.
In the first experiment
In the second experiment, after 5 ML growth at RT 3D Si islands are formed due to the small mobility of Si atoms on the surface, see
Interestingly, the Si surface morphology in the different experiments looks very similar for the same annealing temperature, even for the first annealing step at ˜350° C. for 5 s (b), (f). However,
To quantify the density of P atoms at the Si(001) surface observed in the STM images of
If we consider the first 5 s annealing step at 350° C. for the P atoms encapsulated in Si grown at 255° C. already ˜25% of the P atoms have segregated to occupy surface lattice sites. After subsequent annealing at 400, 450, 500, 550, to 600° C. nearly 60% of the P atoms are present at the surface. These results demonstrate that even with a short, low temperature anneal encapsulation of P atoms in epitaxial Si, grown at ˜250° C., results in significant P segregation.
In contrast, if P atoms are overgrown with 5 ML of Si deposited at RT and annealed at 350° C. for 5 s, only ˜5% of the initial number of P atoms are present at the surface. During subsequent annealing at 400, 450, 500, 550, and 600° C. the P density only increases slightly to ˜10% due to diffusion of P atoms from subsurface layers to the surface. The reduced density of P atoms at the Si surface compared to the 255° C. Si growth experiment is a direct consequence of the strongly suppressed segregation of P atoms during Si overgrowth at RT.
To calculate the segregation length Δ of P in Si at 250° C. and RT from the STM data we use the relation54
pinc=a0/4Δ
where Pinc is the incorporation probability and a0/4=0.1358 nm, the distance between two subsequent Si(001) monolayers. We know that in
Phosphorus Delta Doping
In order to determine the electrical activation of the phosphorus atoms epitaxially overgrown by silicon, a phosphorus delta doped layer was grown and made into a Hall bar device structure; see
where α is a scaling factor, Ψ is the digamma function and Bo and Bφ are the characteristic magnetic fields associated with elastic transport and phase relaxation rates respectively. The fitting range was limited to B<0.1Bo. In
An important parameter for quantum devices is lφ. It increases from 52 nm for the RT sample to 72 nm for the 250 C sample and then decreases to 21 nm for the 400 C sample. As lφ∝✓τnsτ100, the increase in lφ from the RT to the 250 C sample is mainly due to the corresponding increase in τ since these two samples have similar ns and τφ. The smaller value of lφ for the 400 C sample is due to the smaller values of τφ and ns which offset the higher value of τ. In addition, the significant spread of dopants within the ˜25 nm Si epilayer of the 400 C sample implies that the thickness of the P-doped layer is of the same order as lφ and the sample is thus on the border of the 2D limit.39 The above analysis gives a measure of lφ and τφ, and shows that the 250 C encapsulation is most suitable for making devices that show quantum coherent effects.
In order to determine the extent of the confinement of the P atoms within the δ-doped layer we have performed secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) measurements on our δ-doped samples.
Registration of Atomic and Nanoscale Devices and Atomic and Nano-Scale Device Fabrication
We will now describe more work for which we have used a new STM-MBE system which has a combined SEM and STM, for imaging registration markers with the SEM and or optical microscope and then bringing the very delicate STM tip down at a precise location with respect to the markers. A laser interferometer stage allows precise movement of the STM over millimeter distances with nanometer resolution to position and relocate patterned devices with respect to the registration markers. Extreme anti-vibration measures have been taken to decouple the atomic resolution STM chamber from the resonating MBE growth chamber and its associated pumps since both technologies are needed to fabricate the complete device.
The system is capable of dealing with 1 cm2 samples (˜5× larger than normal STM samples) using a special e-beam heater to prepare the atomically flat (100) silicon surface. These large sample sizes are more compatible with standard cleanroom processing.
Before the sample is loaded into the vacuum system it is cleaned ensure an atomically flat, contaminant-free silicon surface needed for STM imaging. The silicon dioxide is removed using a buffered hydrofluoric acid bath. Organic contaminants and optical resist residues are removed using sulphuric peroxide. Carbon surface concentration is reduced by hydrofluoric acid. Metal contaminants are removed by RCA-2. Nitrogen blow-drying finalises the wet-chemical cleaning process.
The sample is then introduced into the UHV chamber, and
A set of differently sized registration markers can be used (see
Using the SEM the STM tip is then brought to the sample surface close to the registration markers, see
Four terminal magnetoresistance measurements of two STM-patterned devices (4×4 μm2 patch and 90×900 nm2 wire) were performed at 0.05-4 K to confirm the suitability of the fabrication strategy for the creation of nano-scale devices. In particular we aimed to determine the influence of the STM-patterned device geometry on electron transport in the presence of a magnetic field.
The strong increase in the magnitude of the negative magnetoresistance with decreasing temperature is a characteristic signature of weak localization. Weak localization arises from coherent backscattering of forward and time reversed electron waves around a loop as electrons diffuse through the sample, leading to an increase of the resistance over the classical Drude value. This quantum correction to the resistance becomes larger as the temperature is lowered, because the phase coherence length increases as T→0 and more loops (with larger circumferences) can contribute to the total backscattering. The application of a magnetic field breaks the time reversal symmetry in these loops and suppresses coherent backscattering, resulting in a negative magnetoresistance that is more pronounced at lower temperatures.
We can extract the phase coherence length of the electrons by performing a three-parameter fit of the magnetoresistance (see dotted lines) to the Hikami expression for weak localization in the diffusive regime. At 4 K we obtain a phase coherence length of lφ=38 nm, which increases to lφ=131 nm as the temperature is reduced to 50 mK. This suggests that if we make a STM-defined structure with a width below w ˜130 nm, we would expect to see evidence of the lateral confinement in the weak localization, that is in the magnetoresistance.
In
We can use the suppression of the 2D weak localization to independently measure the width of the quantum wire. As the magnetic field is increased, the maximum size of electron loops for which there is constructive interference of backscattered electrons decreases. The constructive interference is destroyed when a magnetic flux quantum threads a loop of radius r, that is when r2=ℏ/(eB)=lB2. When the magnetic length lB is much larger than the wire width w, the magnetic field has relatively little effect, which results in the plateau around B=0. As the magnetic field increases the size of the constructively interfering loops becomes smaller, so that it is B, and not the wire width, that determines the magnitude of the weak localization effect. Thus the wire approaches the two-dimensional behavior of the square when 2lB˜w. From
Our results open the way for the realization of sophisticated atomic and nano-scale devices in silicon such as single electron transistors (SETs), quantum cellular automata and a Si based solid-state quantum computer.
We will now describe more work for which we have used a new STM-MBE system which has a combined SEM and STM, for imaging registration markers with the SEM and or optical microscope and then bringing the very delicate STM tip down at a precise location with respect to the markers. A laser interferometer stage allows precise movement of the STM over millimeter distances with nanometer resolution to position and relocate patterned devices with respect to the registration markers. Extreme anti-vibration measures have been taken to decouple the atomic resolution STM chamber from the resonating MBE growth chamber and its associated pumps since both technologies are needed to fabricate the complete device.
The system is capable of dealing with 1 cm2 samples (˜5× larger than normal STM samples) using a special e-beam heater to prepare the atomically flat (100) silicon surface. These large sample sizes are more compatible with standard cleanroom processing.
The results we have achieved are the following:
- 1. We have used an STM to create an atomically perfect nanoscale device in silicon, namely a quantum wire.
- 2. We have successfully connected this STM-fabricated device to the outside world with a full set of 4-terminal voltage and current leads.
- 3. We have shown that the complete fabrication scheme works, and have made a number of control devices that show the difference between large area (micron scale) STM-defined devices, and nanostructures.
- 4. We have demonstrated quantum transport in the STM-defined wire, and used electrical measurements to independently determine the width of the quantum wire which is shown to be in excellent agreement with the STM fabrication and imaging.
- 5. We have aligned surface gate electrodes above buried STM patterned tunnel junctions in order to control the height of tunnel barriers.
These results mean that it is now possible to use a STM to build robust semiconductor devices. Given that we have also recently demonstrated that it is possible to dope silicon with atomic precision with a STM, the door is now open to the creation of fully functional atomic scale silicon devices. This promises to open entirely new areas of quantum device physics, due to the ability to control the position of dopants with atomic precision, and integrate quantum physics into device design (with applications for nano and atomic scale transistors, stub tuners, resonant tunnel diodes, etc). It may also have significant implications for the future of the semiconductor industry (with potential for lower power operation and greater device reproducibility, two key issues facing the industry). Although STM fabrication may initially appear to be incompatible with mass manufacture, the same was initially said of MBE in the early 1980's. Today MBE is a standard industry tool, and widely used for high-speed electronics, microwave communication systems, laser diodes, etc.
Finally, it is important to note that the fabrication strategy demonstrated here is also directly applicable to other silicon based quantum computer architectures3.
It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that numerous variations and/or modifications may be made to the invention as shown in the specific embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as broadly described. The present embodiments are, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive.
Claims
1. A method for fabricating a nanoscale or atomic scale device, comprising the steps of: creating one or more registration markers visible to a Scanning Tunnelling Microscope (STM), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) or an optical microscope, on or in a (clean) silicon surface; using a SEM or optical microscope to form an image of at least one of the registration markers and the tip of a Scanning tunnelling Microscope (STM) in the vicinity of the registration marker; using the image to position and reposition the STM tip relative to the marker with nanometer or micron resolution in order to pattern the active region of the device structure on the silicon surface; the device and then encapsulating it with silicon such that one or more of the registration markers are still visible on the silicon surface to a SEM or optical microscope; depositing a metal layer onto the silicon surface using either optical or electron beam lithography to form one or more ohmic or gate electrodes, or both, at one or more locations positioned relative to respective registration markers.
2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the silicon surface is the (100)-oriented surface having a 2×1 unit cell surface structure with rows of s-bonded silicon dimers.
3. A method according to claim 1, wherein the silicon surface is up to 1 cm2 in size.
4. A method according to claim 1, wherein the registration markers are defined by optical or e-beam lithography (EBL).
5. A method according to claim 1, wherein the registration markers are created using focused ion beam (FIB) milling or etching of the silicon surface.
6. A method according to claim 1, wherein the registration markers are created using wet-chemical etching or reactive ion etching (RIE).
7. A method according to claim 1, wherein the registration markers are created by depositing metal onto the silicon surface.
8. A method according to claim 1, wherein the markers are sized between a few nm and several microns.
9. A method according to claim 1, wherein a series of registration marker of different sizes and patterns are created to form a target around a selected site for the nanoscale device.
10. A method according to claim 9, wherein the smallest marker ranges from tens to several hundred nanometers in diameter.
11. A method according to claim 1, wherein the registration markers are from tens to several hundred nanometers deep.
12. A method according to claim 1, wherein after creating the markers the silicon surface is cleaned to remove any traces or organic resists before loading into the STM vacuum system.
13. A method according to claim 1, wherein a laser interferometer stage is used to assist with repositioning of the STM over millimeter distances with nanometer resolution.
14. A method according to claim 1, wherein the structure is patterned by selectively desorbing atoms from a hydrogen monolayer on a silicon surface.
15. A method according to claim 14, wherein the exposed silicon is subsequently doped by exposure to gas atoms or molecules containing dopant atoms.
16. A method according to claim 15, wherein dopant atoms are activated by annealing the surface at between about 300° C. and about 650° C. to incorporate electrically active dopant atoms into the silicon.
17. A method according to claim 16, wherein the hydrogen monolayer is removed byannealing at ˜470±30° C. for less than 10 seconds.
18. A method according to claim 15, wherein annealing takes place at about 530° C. for about 5 seconds.
19. A method according to claim 16, wherein the hydrogen monolayer is removed using the STM tip.
20. A method according to claim 16, wherein the hydrogen monolayer is removed using the SEM.
21. A method according to claim 1, wherein encapsulating layers are epitaxially grown at between about 0° C. and 400° C.
22. A method according to claim 21, wherein the encapsulating layers are grown at between about 0° C. and 250° C.
23. A method according to claim 22, wherein the encapsulating layers are grown at room temperature.
24. A method according to claim 1, wherein the encapsulating layers between 5 and several hundred nm thick.
25. A method according to claim 1, including the further step of: thermally annealing the surface so that it becomes atomically smooth.
26. A method according to claim 1, including the further step of forming highly-doped gate regions close to and in the plane of the patterned device structure.
27. A method according to claim 26, including the further steps of: depositing metal layers on the silicon surface at locations positioned above respective highly-doped regions and then annealing to diffuse the metal down to the highly-doped regions.
28. A method according to claim 27, wherein the anneal is conducted at a sufficiently low temperature that significant dopant diffusion does not occur.
29. A method according to claim 1, including the further step of implanting dopants to create a doped region extending from the surface down to the layer of the patterned device structure.
30. A method according to claim 1, including the further step of forming a three dimensional device by patterning a first layer of the device structure, then forming that device layer and overgrowing with one or more layers of silicon atoms and patterning the new surface with another layer of the device structure.
31. A method according to one of claims 1 to 28, including the further step of measuring the electrical activity of the device.
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Type: Grant
Filed: Aug 20, 2004
Date of Patent: Jun 16, 2009
Patent Publication Number: 20060275958
Assignee: Qucor Pty Ltd
Inventors: Frank J. Ruess (Randwick), Lars Oberbeck (Coogee), Michelle Yvonne Simmons (Coogee), K. E. Johnson Goh (Singapore), Alexander Rudolf Hamilton (Forestville), Mladen Mitic (Ryde), Rolf Brenner (Chatswood), Neil Jonathan Curson (Randwick), Toby Hallam (Newtown)
Primary Examiner: Wai-Sing Louie
Attorney: Wood, Phillips, Katz, Clark & Mortimer
Application Number: 10/568,559
International Classification: H01L 21/00 (20060101);